HU gets first win of season, 34-30 over Division II Miles

Pirates survive for initial triumph of Maynor's coaching era

September 20, 2014|By Paul White, | Correspondent

HAMPTON — For those who thought Hampton University's game against Division II Miles represented an easy spot on the Pirates' schedule, Saturday's developments made this much clear — at this point in the Hampton rebuilding process, there's no such thing as an easy spot.

"Hey, the only thing that matters is we got the 'W'," a relieved Hampton coach Cornell Maynor said after his Pirates finally subdued the pesky Golden Bears 34-30 at Armstrong Stadium. "But we've got a lot of work to do."

Bryan Bailey, who started at quarterback in place of J.J. Williamson, tossed two of his three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to secure Hampton's first victory in four tries this season.

The teams were tied at 17 early in the fourth quarter when Bailey connected with a leaping SeQuan Gooding at the goal line from 16 yards out. And after Hayden Gregory's recovery of a Miles fumble quickly put Hampton on the attack again at the Miles 25, Bailey needed just one play to find a wide-open Rayshawn Proctor in the back of the end zone.

Miles needed less than a minute for quarterback Demetric Price to hit Antonio Pitts with a 25-yard scoring pass and cut the deficit to seven. But Anthony Prevost's 29-yard field goal with 1:24 left sealed the decision.

Bailey finished 20-of-31 for 267 yards with two interceptions to go with his three TDs in relief of Williamson, who got dinged up in last week's game against Richmond and was held out as a precaution, Maynor said.

"We wanted to rest Jay, and for Bailey's first start, he did pretty well," Maynor said. "He had some ups and downs, but as long as we got that 'W' ... "

Hampton's confidence in this matchup revealed itself on the fourth play of the game, when the Pirates opted to go for it on fourth-and-1 from their 35-yard line. But safety Anthony Powell picked off Bailey's rollout pass, and it was Miles launching the game's first scoring opportunity.

The Golden Bears came up empty when Jason Coste's 48-yard field-goal attempt fell well short. Undaunted, Miles engineered a six-play, 65-yard scoring drive on its next possession, cashing in on Price's 16-yard touchdown pass to Pitts.

The Pirates, meanwhile, continued to sputter on offense, falling to convert on their first six third-down chances — and first two fourth downs — while amassing just 28 yards of offense in the first quarter.

It took until midway in the second quarter before the Bailey-led Pirates began heating up. A swing pass to Drakar Harvell netted 40 yards and set up Prevost's 23-yard field goal. Bailey then completed 5 of 6 for 62 yards on Hampton's next possession, including a 19-yard scoring strike to Morris Brailsford with 3:47 left that put the Pirates ahead 10-7.

Breon Key's interception at the Hampton 2-yard line with six seconds left preserved Hampton's three-point edge at halftime.

Coste's 42-yard field goal at 10:43 of the third quarter tied the game at 10. Jorrian Washington's 1-yard touchdown run at 6:55 of the third quarter put Hampton back in front, but Miles' Jamarcus Hill scored from 8 yards out on fourth-and-2 with 7 seconds left in the period to knot things at 17.